Certain animals and in particular alpacas and llamas, require particular techniques and attention during the shearing process and also when attending to minor items such as trimming toe nails, inspection of teeth and the like. The shearing of sheep requires a different technique from that required for shearing, for instance, alpacas or llamas. To shear a sheep, the shearer generally sits the sheep on the floor and stands astride the sheep for much of the shearing process. This is not possible when shearing alpacas and llamas for example, because an alpaca or llama is considerably larger than a sheep and because of the basic temperament of these animals. The size of the animal also means the shearer must adopt what is often an uncomfortable posture which can lead to physical strain and early fatigue.
When shearing sheep, the fleece is generally allowed to fall onto the floor where it is liable to pick up contamination such as debris and the like that may lie on the floor and that contamination has to be separated from the fleece at a later date. Further, allowing alpaca and llama fibre to fall to the floor causes fibre from the different parts of the animal having different grades to become mixed. Because of the higher cost of alpaca and llama fibre, it is sound practice to avoid as much as possible the risk of such contamination and also to avoid mixing fibre of different grades.
It is apparent that a method and apparatus by which an animal, particularly an alpaca, can be captured and restrained will considerably facilitate the task of shearing and of attending to other items referred to above.
Other desirable requirements are to improve the quality control, to ensure the safety of the animal and to facilitate the whole operation and in particular to enable the animal to be sheared without unduly stressing the animal.